Building A New House

[ZAP]

Under BASIX you must have the dunnys on tankwater as well as the cold water for the washing machine.

[Flukey]

I dont advocate CCTV in homes unless its really warranted, It puts neighbours off side as they get the feeling they are being watched all the time (which they probably are)

If you think its something you might want, pull some RG59 in with a 24/0/20 figure 8 and it will cover you if you want to do it later.

[F6BF]

Basix will also make u put in a solar hot water system, as u have town gas the gas boosted is the way to go

Good luck with it Mal, im in the same position atm

Are u putting CBUS in?

[Guest]

I work for a luxury house builder. house from 1m upwards

in perth anyway this is what most house we do have in them, most items have been covered.

* use solid core doors

* timber frames with big architrave, much better then metal frames, there f*ckn ugly.

* use marble or granite over ceaser stone if budget allows.

* soft close draw rails in all cabinetwork

* skirtings, use them. I cannot stress this enough, having no skirting or quad looks cheap.

* use motion sensors for lighting in the house, walk in robes, bathrooms, hallways etc. its very nice to walk around the corner and the lights just turn on

* full height tiling is a must in bathrooms

* heated towel rail, bit of a wank but most nice houses have them

* soft close toilet seats.

* bifold/sliding stacker doors out to entertaining area, when open gives massive entertaining area.

* ducted vaccum is a must. especially kick sweep in kitchen.

* cctv, basic front door camera wired to tv costs are minor.

* washed agg paving, everyones using it.

* glass balustrading

* timber window sills, better then plastered.

* power/data points for tv in all bedrooms

* commercial window frames, look much better then residential and can still be bricked in to save costs, but still quite a bit more expensive.

* glass splashbacks

* ceiling fans, good to get some air moving without cranking up the a/c

* shower grates, stainlless grate across width of shower instead of floor waste

* double showers in ensuites and main bedrooms

* if you render the house instead of face brick, use texture coat finish, much better then painted render.

* dunno about you lot over there but all two storey houses here have concrete suspended floor.

* tin roof is better then tiles imo although slate roofs look great, just cost a packet.

that's about all I got at the minute

[seventytwo]

If you are using down lights make sure there LEDs , I have 15 halogen down lights and they cost a fortune to run.

If you have the space, double gates to the backyard, makes landscaping and gardening a lot easier.

And insulate the hell out of your house it will help keep your power costs down.

Also what ever you do dont plant palm trees, I hate those fcuckers the fronds are a pain in the ass.

[turbotrana]

Another one comes to mind.

A large custom rangehood with an external motor and vented outside. Seen too many noisy rangehoods that dont do their job well so the kitchen and surroundings get soiled over time. Alot arnt even vented to the outside

[tmac450]

obviously different states have different laws etc but ithink you might be getting bullsh#@ed a bit there is no insurance issues with doing the cabling/running conduit as long as you have a licenced tradie my mates cousin done both mine and my mates place (2 different builders)

with my builder I was allowed to nominate three of my own tradies so I used people I knew Brickie/sparkie and tiler

again not sure of the laws over your way but it would be worth looking into like you say we spent a weekend on my joint and put conduit everywhere its already come in handy a couple of times

good luck

sounds like a really nice joint ya building

I agree. My friends and I have looked into this one on several occations. It is noting to do with insurance as all of the tradies and you yourself have their own insurance, otherwise they're not allowed on the site. It's all about the builder charging you twice the standard rate to get the job done.

When it comes down to it, it's your house, you're paying for it and I guarantee there isn't a builder out there who would alow you to cancel the job, because you want to do some of your own cabling.

I know plenty who have done it, and mostly what happens is you have a gentleman's agreement that the builder (or the foreman onsite) turns a blind eye to allow you access to the site.

Oh, and in answer to the question raised earlier on is there a bigger headache than building a new house. Yes, major renovations.

[bluute]

noone seems to have mentioned wood floors

dont no if they not popular over east or wat but I love them

as long as its real wood not that floating floor crap or the wood laminate

I picked it over porceline cost about the same in the end (nsw blackbut) just feels alot warmer to me and with a little bit of care it stays beautifull for years

[nang3]

Lots of toilets too.

10mm toughened shower screens look great but are a little bit exxy

By the way how bigs your kitchen???? $6500 for splashbacks seems awfully expensive.

yeh I thought those splashbacks were pretty exxy !! we're putting in a mid sized kitchen ($30k) and the splashbacks worked out to about $450sqm and we have about 4m to do.. 6500 is a lot of glass !!!!! will look awesome though!

noone seems to have mentioned wood floors

dont no if they not popular over east or wat but I love them

as long as its real wood not that floating floor crap or the wood laminate

I picked it over porceline cost about the same in the end (nsw blackbut) just feels alot warmer to me and with a little bit of care it stays beautifull for years

same, I've got about 50sqm of blackbutt select grade sittin in my spare room ready to go in.. my mates got the same and looks awesome when finished..

at $50m cant go wrong either !

[xr6 typhoon]

Hey Zap as a couple of guys have mentioned check your builders contract you should be able to nominate a qualified tradie to do specialised work at your request. They will probably point this out when they present you with the tender.